By Wolens H.B. No. 2809
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to statutory revision and statutory construction.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Section 311.033 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 311.033. EFFECT OF NONSUBSTANTIVE REVISION. The
1-7 codification of a statute under the continuing statutory revision
1-8 program provided for by Section 323.007 in an act stating that no
1-9 substantive change in law is intended does not affect the meaning
1-10 or effect of the statute. A court or other entity interpreting
1-11 and applying the codified statute shall give the codified statute
1-12 the same effect and meaning that was or would have been given the
1-13 statute before its codification, notwithstanding the repeal of the
1-14 prior statute and regardless of an omission or change that the
1-15 court or other entity would otherwise find to be direct,
1-16 unambiguous, and irreconcilable with prior law. An omission or
1-17 change for which the court finds no direct evidence of legislative
1-18 intent to change the sense, meaning, or effect of the statute shall
1-19 be considered unintended and shall be treated as if the omission or
1-20 change were a typographical or similar error.
1-21 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
1-22 amended by adding Section 311.034 to read as follows:
1-23 Sec. 311.034. WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY. A statute shall
1-24 not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity unless the
2-1 waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. In a
2-2 statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to
2-3 include governmental entities, does not indicate legislative intent
2-4 to waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the statute
2-5 indicates no other reasonable construction.
2-6 SECTION 3. Chapter 323, Government Code, is amended by adding
2-7 Section 323.0071 to read as follows:
2-8 Sec. 323.0071. EDITORIAL POWERS FOR STATUTES. (a) In this
2-9 section, "section" includes titles, subtitles, chapters,
2-10 subchapters, sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, and
2-11 other numbered or lettered units of a statute.
2-12 (b) The executive director of the council shall perform the
2-13 duties of revisor of statutes or designate an employee to perform
2-14 those duties. The powers provided by this section are authorized
2-15 as part of the statutory revision program for the purposes of:
2-16 (1) conforming codifications to other acts of the same
2-17 legislature that amended the laws codified or added new law to
2-18 subject matter codified;
2-19 (2) making necessary corrections to enacted
2-20 codifications; and
2-21 (3) renumbering or relettering sections that duplicate
2-22 numbers or letters, are mislocated, or that are otherwise
2-23 inconsistent with the organization and arrangement of the codes.
2-24 (c) In carrying out these powers the revisor may not alter
2-25 the sense, meaning, or effect of a statute. If the revisor is in
2-26 doubt whether a specific change is authorized by this section, the
2-27 revisor may not make the change but shall incorporate the proposed
3-1 change into legislation.
3-2 (d) In accordance with this section, the revisor may:
3-3 (1) renumber or rearrange sections;
3-4 (2) combine sections into other sections;
3-5 (3) divide sections into other sections so as to give
3-6 to distinct subject matters a section number or letter;
3-7 (4) substitute a reference to the proper section for
3-8 the terms "this act," "the preceding section," and the like;
3-9 (5) substitute figures for written words and vice
3-10 versa;
3-11 (6) substitute the date on which the law becomes
3-12 effective for the words "the effective date of this act," and the
3-13 like;
3-14 (7) change capitalization for the purpose of
3-15 uniformity;
3-16 (8) correct manifest clerical, typographical,
3-17 grammatical, or punctuation errors;
3-18 (9) correct obviously misspelled words;
3-19 (10) change references to agree with renumbered or
3-20 relettered sections or to properly reflect references to other
3-21 statutes; and
3-22 (11) conform the provisions of a code to the
3-23 amendment, revision, or reenactment of a codified statute by the
3-24 same legislature that enacted the code, giving effect to the
3-25 requirements of Section 311.031(c).
3-26 (e) In addition to the actions described by Subsection (d),
3-27 if two or more acts of a legislative session affect the same
4-1 section and the revisor finds that there is no irreconcilable
4-2 conflict between the changes made by each act, the revisor may
4-3 harmonize the acts and incorporate the changes made by each act
4-4 into the text of the section.
4-5 (f) The revisor shall publish proposed actions under this
4-6 section in a report the form of which is designed to clearly
4-7 identify each proposed action, including words to be added or
4-8 deleted, and the purpose of each proposed action.
4-9 (g) The revisor shall file notice of the report described by
4-10 Subsection (f) with the secretary of state for publication in the
4-11 Texas Register and shall provide a copy of the notice to each
4-12 member of the legislature. The notice must contain:
4-13 (1) a brief explanation of the report;
4-14 (2) the intended effective date of the proposed
4-15 actions;
4-16 (3) a description of how interested persons may obtain
4-17 the text of the report; and
4-18 (4) a request for comment on the proposed actions by
4-19 affected governmental agencies and any other interested person.
4-20 (h) The effective date of actions proposed in the report may
4-21 not be earlier than the 61st day after the date notice is published
4-22 in the Texas Register.
4-23 (i) The revisor shall give all interested persons a
4-24 reasonable opportunity to comment on the actions proposed in the
4-25 report and shall fully consider all comments.
4-26 (j) The final actions of the revisor under this section
4-27 shall be effected by order issued by the revisor and filed with the
5-1 secretary of state. The order takes effect on the date stated in
5-2 the order, which may not be earlier than the 31st day after the
5-3 date the order is filed with the secretary of state. The secretary
5-4 of state shall publish the order in the Texas Register.
5-5 (k) The revisor shall communicate actions under this section
5-6 to each publisher of Texas statutes, and the text of the statutes
5-7 published by the publisher shall reflect the actions of the
5-8 revisor.
5-9 (l) The saving provisions of Section 311.031 apply to
5-10 actions by the revisor under this section.
5-11 SECTION 4. The legislature finds the decision of the Texas
5-12 Supreme Court in Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc. v. Rylander, 6 S.W.
5-13 3d 278 (Tex. 1999), to be inconsistent with the clear and
5-14 repeatedly expressed intent of the legislature in the enactment of
5-15 the Tax Code and other nonsubstantive codes enacted under the
5-16 state's continuing statutory revision program under Section
5-17 323.007, Government Code. The absence of any legislative action
5-18 subsequent to the holding in Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc. v.
5-19 Rylander shall not be construed as legislative acceptance of the
5-20 holding in that case.
5-21 SECTION 5. Section 323.008, Government Code, is repealed.
5-22 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a
5-23 vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
5-24 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
5-25 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
5-26 Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
5-27 legislative session.